Mealey's Asbestos
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September 19, 2023
Fraudulent Joinder Argument Rejected; Judge Remands J&J Asbestos-Talc Case
NEW YORK — A woman’s evidence at least suggests the possibility that a company manufactured talcum powder for Johnson & Johnson before 1980 and learned that there was asbestos in the talc through a trade group and that the woman potentially used the product while the company manufactured it, a federal judge in New York said in finding the company not fraudulently joined and remanding the case.
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September 18, 2023
Hawaii Judge Grants Genetic Testing Blood Draw In Asbestos Case
HONOLULU — A mesothelioma sufferer will sit for a blood draw for the purposes of genetic testing after a judge in Hawaii granted a defendant’s motion in an asbestos case.
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September 18, 2023
Defenses, Damages Permitted Under Maritime Law, Judge Says
BOSTON — Maritime law applies to an asbestos case and recognizes both the bare metal and government contractor defenses but also permits loss of consortium, punitive and survival damages, a federal judge in Massachusetts said in partially granting a motion for clarification.
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September 18, 2023
Defendant: Additional Authority On Asbestos-Maritime Law Not Actual Authority
BOSTON — A widow’s supposed additional authority about whether maritime law permits punitive, survival and loss of consortium damages in an asbestos case relies on a nonbinding ruling citing the very memorandum and order subject to an objection and briefing in the instant case and should not be considered, a company tells a federal judge in Massachusetts.
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September 18, 2023
Justice Denies Protective Order, Disqualification Bid In Reinsurance Row
NEW YORK — Addressing two motions relating to an audit agreement, a New York justice denied both a liquidator’s request for a protective order regarding certain previously produced documents and reinsurers’ bid to disqualify the liquidator’s counsel.
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September 18, 2023
Court: Continuous Exposure Requirement Dooms Asbestos Workers’ Comp Case
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Because an asbestos widow has not shown that her husband suffered the requisite continuous exposure durations required by law, her claim for death benefits under the state’s workers’ compensation system fails, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals affirmed.
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September 15, 2023
Justice Denies Motions On Asbestos Causation, Damages, Issues $10,000 Sanction
NEW YORK — A man’s extensive testimony about the work he performed and the conditions he performed them in differentiates his case from newly minted causation precedent in an asbestos-talc case, and the evidence supported the jury’s award for pain and suffering, a New York justice said in denying post-trial motions and imposing $10,000 in sanctions for an asbestos expert’s false statements.
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September 14, 2023
Hit With $38 Million Asbestos Verdict, Burnham Wants Financial Records Sealed
NEW YORK — Responding to Burnham LLC’s request for a New York justice to seal two affidavits containing propriety information introduced during the punitive damages phase that contributed to a $38 million asbestos verdict, the plaintiff says in a Sept. 11 opposition brief that in light of evidence of decades of sales of products the company knew would be hazardous, its vague arguments are not grounds to seal the evidence, sources told Mealey Publications.
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September 12, 2023
Plaintiff/Defense Experts Testifying Since Jan. 1, 2002
The following is a listing of plaintiff and defense experts who testified in trials covered by Mealey's Litigation Report: Asbestos since Jan. 1, 2002.
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September 12, 2023
Asbestos Plaintiff Says Amicus Overstates Danger To South Carolina Causation Law
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The South Carolina Supreme Court should ignore an amicus brief warning about a threat to the state’s relative contribution standard, the plaintiffs say while telling the court that both the jury and lower court were able to consider other potential asbestos exposures and simply found against the defendant.
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September 11, 2023
Asbestos-Talc Defendants Seek To Exclude Moline’s Supplemental Disclosures
NEW YORK — Defendants in an asbestos-talc case accused the plaintiff of “gamesmanship” and urged a federal judge in New York to preclude supplemental expert disclosures, including a 2023 paper from asbestos expert Jacqueline Moline, saying the plaintiff sat on the evidence for months while the parties litigated a previous paper raising similar issues.
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September 08, 2023
Illinois Jury Returns $40.75M Verdict In Asbestos Gasket Case
CHICAGO — An Illinois jury returned a $40.75 million verdict in favor of the family of a man who contracted mesothelioma and died after exposure to asbestos in John Crane Inc. products.
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September 08, 2023
1 Of Insurer’s 4 Suits Seeking Asbestos Settlement Reimbursement Is Dismissed
OMAHA, Neb. — One suit that National Indemnity Co. (NICO) filed against reinsurers in Nebraska federal court over the insurer’s $157.2 million settlement with Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposures has been dismissed with prejudice because no defendants remain after a wave of stipulations.
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September 08, 2023
World Trade Center Asbestos Case Jury Awards $28.5M
NEW YORK — A New York jury awarded a lung cancer sufferer $28.5 million and apportioned various levels of liability to the last three remaining defendants in a case alleging that the former cigarette smoker suffered asbestos exposure while working at the World Trade Center.
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September 07, 2023
Florida Top Court To Decide Availability Of Damages After Post-Diagnosis Marriage
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court on Sept. 6 heard oral arguments about whether the state’s wrongful death statute permits damages for a spouse and surviving children where the marriage occurred after doctors diagnosed the man with mesothelioma.
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September 07, 2023
1960s Asbestos Exposure Claims Discharged By 1983 Bankruptcy, Judge Says
AUSTIN, Texas — While the destruction of court records complicates the matter, a 2016 mesothelioma lawsuit alleging exposure to asbestos in the 1960s constitutes a pre-petition claim discharged in the former employer’s 1983 bankruptcy, a federal judge in Texas said in affirming a bankruptcy court ruling.
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September 05, 2023
Negligence, Product Liability Claims Survive Under Maritime Law, Judge Says
SAN DIEGO — Maritime law governs asbestos claims stemming from exposure on vessels on navigable waters in a shipyard, allowing plaintiffs to pursue negligence, product liability and possibly punitive damages claims, but not a loss of consortium claim, a federal judge in California said.
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August 31, 2023
Asbestos-Talc Defendant Objects To Fees Awarded After Failed Subpoena
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A company at the center of a dispute over subpoenas seeking information from an asbestos-talc study author and her company tells a federal judge in Virginia in an Aug. 30 memorandum that its narrowed discovery request was not unduly burdensome and did not warrant imposing more than $44,000 in fees and costs.
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August 30, 2023
3M, Aearo, Settle Combat Arms Litigation For $6 Billion
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Aearo Technologies LLC parent company 3M Occupational Safety LLC reached a $6 billion settlement resolving Combat Arms earplugs litigation, resolving the largest multidistrict litigation in U.S. history and relieving the entities of tort claims at the heart of a bankruptcy that was dismissed based on the logic of a similar ruling in the asbestos talc bankruptcy case of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) spinoff LTL Management LLC, the companies announced in an Aug. 29 press release.
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August 30, 2023
Petitioners Ask South Carolina Supreme Court To Consolidate Asbestos Cases
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A trio of defendants engaged in appeals of a pair of asbestos actions asked the South Carolina Supreme Court to consolidate the cases for oral argument and decision, saying they involve overlapping questions regarding additur and setoffs. On Aug. 29, the respondent in each case asked for a 10-day extension to respond to the motion.
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August 29, 2023
Delaware High Court Says Cognizable Injury Must Manifest In Physical Illness
WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Supreme Court has ruled that with regard to a chemical injury lawsuit, the increased risk of harm constitutes a cognizable injury only when manifested by physical illness.
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August 25, 2023
Asbestos Bankruptcy Tort Claims Untimely, Pennsylvania Court Says
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Three plaintiffs’ lawsuits against an asbestos trust filed four years after they received letters allowing such tort actions are barred by the two-year statute of limitations, the Pennsylvania Superior Court said.
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August 24, 2023
Reconsideration Ruling Came Too Late In Asbestos Forum Dispute, Court Says
HARRISBURG, Pa. — An order came after the 30-day window for granting reconsideration of a ruling dismissing an asbestos case on forum non conveniens grounds and, therefore, the court lacked the power to provide the relief, a Pennsylvania appeals court said in vacating the ruling.
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August 24, 2023
Judge Orders Claimants To Give Names, Comply With CertainTeed Debtor’s Subpoena
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Thousands of people who settled mesothelioma claims with CertainTeed Corp. or its spinoff debtor DBMP LLC must identify themselves and comply with the debtor’s subpoena seeking information they submitted to asbestos trusts because they did not show that there are “exceptional circumstances” allowing them to proceed anonymously, a North Carolina federal judge held in affirming a bankruptcy judge’s decision.
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August 23, 2023
Asbestos Defendants: Woman Waited While Case Played Out Under Deemed Admissions
LOS ANGELES — Having waited months before attempting to correct her own failure, and with discovery closed and the case on the eve of an asbestos trial, a woman was not entitled to withdraw an accidental admission that her husband did not suffer from an asbestos-related disease, and even if she were, there are ample other reasons to grant summary judgment, two defendants tell the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an Aug. 22 answering brief.